Wednesday, September 2, 2015

A Walk in the Woods Movie Review

Rotten Tomatoes Plot: In this new comedy adventure, celebrated travel writer, Bill Bryson (Academy Award winner Robert Redford) instead of retiring to enjoy his loving and beautiful wife (Academy Award winner Emma Thompson) and large and happy family, challenges himself to hike the Appalachian Trail - 2,200 miles of America's most unspoiled, spectacular and rugged countryside from Georgia to Maine. The peace and tranquility he hopes to find, though, is anything but, once he agrees to being accompanied by the only person he can find willing to join him on the trek - his long lost and former friend Katz (Academy Award nominee Nick Nolte) a down-on-his-luck serial philanderer who, after a lifetime of relying on his charm and wits to keep one step ahead of the law - sees the trip as a way to sneak out of paying some debts and sneak into one last adventure before its too late. The trouble is, the two have a completely different definition of the word, "adventure." Now they're about to find out that when you push yourself to the edge, the real fun begins.

"So... Travel writing." Who can blame Bill for tackling the Appalachian Trail, in between funerals and getting old? Almost 80, Redford proves he can still carry a movie (albeit at a slower clip than usual.) Mind you, not half as slow as Nolte; but then again, he's not a licensed "pantyologist." Great chemistry between Redford & Nolte; and I loved Thompson's "love notes." Lots of (relatively wholesome) laughs too. In a world, where "you can see the whole trail online in four minutes," it's nice to watch someone actually do it, age/conventional wisdom notwithstanding. "I wonder what's next?"